Brief Description of the Prior Art
A gyroscope, when set in motion, resists forces which tend to change or cause movement of its axis of rotation. Various types of spin-stabilized toys which seem to achieve sustained motions or attitudes relative to the ground, and in apparent defiance of gravity have been heretofore proposed. For example, a spinning top which is gyroscopically stabilized by means of an internal rotating disc is disclosed in Butcher U.S. Pat. No. 755,446.
In Perker et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,584, an oblate spheroid-type housing in the form of a football is provided, and a rotatable inertia member is located within the football and is adapted to be powered in rotation by a string which extends externally of the football, and can be pulled to cause rotation of the rotatable inertia member.
In MacDonald et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,574, a toy football adapted to be manually thrown through the air is illustrated and described. This football has a generally truncated ellipsoid outer contour, with a Venturi-like nozzle passageway extending through the ball along a line coincident with the major axis of the ball. The ball is alleged to have increased rotational stability, as well as a longer trajectory or flight path, when it is manually thrown. This is a result of the truncated ellipsoidal shape of the ball, in conjunction with the air passage formed through the ball coincidental with the major axis of the ball. The outer wall of this ball is formed of a generally lightweight or low density plastic. It is additionally preferred that the outer surface of the ball be coated with a low coefficient of friction material to reduce air drag as the ball moves through the air.
A similar concept is depicted and described in MacDonald et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,466.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,239 to Paterick et al discloses a football which has an outer shell constructed so that the axis of an internally contained gyroscope is coincident with the longitudinal axis of the football. The gyroscope is mounted within the ball by means of brackets which suspend it in the center of the football, and it is actuated by means of a gear rack which is inserted through a passageway projecting through the external skin and into the center of the football. The gear rack has teeth which intersect the gear rack of a pinion gear carried by the gyroscope. The axis of rotation of the internal gyroscope is coincident with the axis of rotation of the football when the football is thrown with a spiral motion. The gyroscopic stabilization realized with this construction enables a nearly perfect spiral rotation to be achieved during flight of the football. The external shell of this football is constructed of a durable, relatively flexible plastic material.
Insofar as I am aware, no prior art toy football has utilized an artificial propulsion system which concurrently affords a propulsive force increasing the length of the trajectory of the ball, while simultaneously providing a gyroscopic stabilization of the spiraling of the ball during its flight.